Questions from the floor

Question: You’ve visited the curse of uncertainty on business. One way Tony Abbott could provide certainty would be to say “we will keep the carbon tax".

Howard: How can he do that if he doesn’t believe in it?

You’ve got to understand the sequence of what happened.
Tony Abbott
is in the political position he is now because he stared
Kevin Rudd
down on the subject of the emissions trading scheme. Whether you agree with that policy position or not, it’s the reason why the Coalition is where it is politically.

If Abbott had not become leader and stared Rudd down, Rudd would still be, in my view, the prime minister in his own right.

Rudd lost his nerve and something that was the greatest moral challenge was then put off for a couple of years. And then Rudd’s poll ratings fell and the Labor Party panicked and they got rid of him.

That all has to go back to Abbott, whether you agree with him or not. And he quite rightly says I went to the last election opposing a carbon tax and to now turn around and say “I’m in favour of it" might according to one definition provide certainty, but on the other hand people would be entitled to say “but you’re no worse than Gillard, you said you were opposed to it and now you are going to keep it".

Question: When you see the relationship in the US between campaign donations and the size of the election campaigns, can we be thankful we have compulsory voting?

Howard: I have always opposed compulsory voting, but I never made an issue of it while I was prime minister because the overwhelming majority of my colleagues were in favour of keeping the present system.

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I’m just against it on philosophical grounds, I have an issue with being compelled to vote and I don’t think an ill-considered vote cast under compulsion should have as much impact as the vote of somebody who agonises and listens and reads the newspapers and changes from Labor to Liberal each day and then finally ends up voting Liberal.